Students perspective on the impact of gender on medical training and future practice

The license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Dear editor We read with great interest the study by Van Wyk et al 1 which explores the beliefs and opinions held by final-year medical students on the impact of gender on their training and the medical profession they were about to enter. As fifth year medical students ourselves, studying at Imperial College London, UK, this was a study we could strongly relate to and as such, we were particularly impressed by some of the findings. Having just finished our Obstetrics and Gynaecology (OBG) rotation, our experiences highlighted to us the issue of how one's gender affects the training received during medical school. We agree with the findings of the study that there are obstacles to males performing intimate examinations, and even consultations, on female patients. 1 This especially holds true in a multicultural city like London, where many different social, religious, and cultural beliefs exist. What is particularly noteworthy, however, is that we found that our gender, and status as a medical student, was the biggest contributor to a female patient's reluctance to having a male student examine them, especially during our OBG rotation. This is in contrast to the study's findings that the male student's age was a greater influence than their gender on a patient's decision. 1 This difference from our experience may be due to cultural beliefs held in countries like South Africa, where this study was conducted, in comparison to the UK. We also noticed that the cultural background of a patient affects whether we, as male students, could examine or even talk to some female patients. Female patients, particularly the elderly, who were of a different cultural background to us were less likely to consent to male students performing basic clinical examinations on them or taking a history. Yanikkerem et al 2 supported the notion that some women may prefer being examined by female doctors and commented that religious and cultural beliefs were among the influences for a patient's preference. The finding that females in particular struggled with elderly male patients who had a different cultural background to them also drew our attention. 1 From our own experiences on the wards, we have seen how the " incompetent female " idea mentioned by Van Wyk et al 1 is sparsely present in some elderly male …